by Shelley Kishpaugh

Created on: February 17, 2009

How to stop breastfeeding can depend on the reason one needs to stop. There are several reasons that ending breastfeeding becomes necessary. The child begins to grow up, the mother's interest in breastfeeding begins to wane, and various medical conditions can all be a factor. However, before you begin your plan to end your breastfeeding relationship with your child, you should be aware of a few things.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

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If you need to stop abruptly due to a medical condition, your doctor can advise you as to the best procedure to use. This is typically dependent on the age of your child. You should be aware that it is possible to stop breastfeeding and then restart again at a later date. If you are going to be taking a medication for a short while that is absolutely not acceptable for use while breastfeeding, you can pump your milk and discard it while feeding your child other foods. Ask the doctor when breastfeeding can be resumed. This will be stressful for both you and your child, since a gradual weaning is best, but you can know that the weaning is temporary and the child will pick nursing right back up as if it never was paused as long as breast-feeding was well established before beginning the course of the medication.

Breastfeeding will eventually come to a natural conclusion when a mother or child loses interest. The <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, followed by the continuation of breastfeeding for at least the first year. The World Heath Organization (WHO) recommends the same for the first six months, with breastfeeding continuing for at least the first two years of a child's life. These recommendations are not to be taken lightly. There is a wealth of information regarding the detrimental effects on both the health of the child and the mother if breastfeeding is terminated too early. This information is easily located on the internet, but is so vast as to be well beyond the scope of this article. Mothers should make the choice to end breastfeeding based on current information, rather than cultural ignorance.

Once you have educated yourself and are still sure that ending your breastfeeding relationship with your child is a task you wish to undertake, recognize that ending breastfeeding rapidly is going to be miserable for both you and your child. This project

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